Pambula Town Hall, formerly Pambula School of Arts:
The Pambula School of Arts committee was established at a public meeting in July 1882, with the inaugural committee consisting of John Martin Snr (President); Messrs. O. Wrightson and J. Behl (Vice Presidents); A. Earl (treasurer); E. J. Cornell (Secretary); and Messrs. G. Davis, J. H. Martin, P. Doherty, W. Gahan, A. Neilson, M. Woollard and J. Doherty. At that meeting £43 in donations were promised while land adjoining the two-storey weatherboard building was given to the cause by local property owner John Behl.
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Funds totalling £287/7/- were raised through public subscriptions and tenders for construction of a building were called in 1883. In June that of Nicholas Bouquet’s
Pambula School of Arts, C. 1900.
Courtesy of the Bega Valley Genealogy Society Inc. All rights reserved.
was accepted. Measuring 63 feet (about 19 metres) in length by 24 feet (almost 7 ½ metres) in width, the structure included a hall, stage and two rear rooms with a passage. A November report noted that “The School of Arts approaches completion…” while the December opening ceremony was described as a “…great success…”
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Originally established to provide educational facilities for working-class adults, it was from the Schools of Arts movement that public libraries, neighbourhood centres and formal systems of adult and technical instruction developed.
The 18th century intellectual and philosophical movement known as the Age of Enlightenment gave rise to the ideas and ideals that culminated in the formation of Schools of Arts, Mechanics Institutes and similar organisations.
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The movement had its roots in Scotland when physician, academic, philanthropist and professor of natural philosophy Dr. George Birkbeck began running a series of evening lectures at the Andersonian Institute in Glasgow in 1800. Proving incredibly popular, 75 attended the first presentation, exploding to 500 over the following weeks. Following his example, upper-middle class Presbyterian businessman and geologist Leonard Horner founded the world’s first School of Arts in Edinburgh in 1821.
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Also known as Mechanics, Literary, Railway or Workingmen’s Institutes, their aim was the intellectual improvement of members through the transmission and
exchange of knowledge and the cultivation of literature, science and art. Underpinning the concept was the belief that industry and society would benefit from an educated artisan class, in turn giving rise to a new breed of inventors and innovators. Public lectures became increasingly popular as a vehicle for the circulation of knowledge and political reform.
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During the 19th century the notion spread rapidly throughout the English-speaking world and within a
The Pambula School of Arts (at rear) just prior to its relocation.
Image courtesy of the George Family Collection. All rights reserved.
decade, schools of arts and their counterparts had been established in London, Manchester, Montreal, New York, Boston and Philadelphia. By 1850 there were over 700 such organisations in Britain alone.
The Australian colonies were very quick to adopt the movement. As early as 1827, just six years after the first in Edinburgh, the Hobart Mechanics’ Institute was founded, with Sydney following in 1833. Over the course of about a century, around 750 Schools of Arts or Mechanics Institutes were established in NSW alone and as Phillip Candy noted, the movement in Australia proved more widespread and influential at a population level than in any other part of the British Empire.
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Established by volunteers as independent community organisations, they thrived as the hub of local community life. Richard Waterhouse, in his history of popular Australian culture, placed the organisations with their debating clubs, public lectures and lending libraries “…at the heart of the movement for rational recreation…” and the 19th century emergence of “respectable culture”.
For many years, the Pambula School of Arts committee maintained the town’s only public library, which just twelve months after establishment, consisted of 126 volumes. By 1904 it had grown to encompass 1,153 books, in addition to regular subscriptions to various newspapers, magazines and periodicals. Lectures, magic lantern shows and other educational activities were also held at the institution.
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The School of Arts building also played an integral part in the town’s social and cultural life, providing a venue for plays, concerts, recitals, balls and dances, in fact virtuall all public entertainment held in the township.
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Pambula Town Hall, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
By 1901, the rapidly swelling needs of the community led to the realisation that larger premises were required. However, because of the size of the block, any extension to the original building was impossible. Thus, it was unanimously agreed at a 1904 committee meeting to purchase a new site in Quondola Street, about 100 yards to the north of the original, from Mr. W. J. Tweedie for the sum of £66.
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Mr. Martin suggested moving immediately towards the erection of a new building, the Pambula Voice declaring that “If any member of the Pambula School of Arts can offer a suggestion or submit a rough plan suitable for the proposed new building, no doubt it will receive consideration by the committee.” At a November meeting, plans and specifications were tabled and it was resolved that tenders for construction be called. By July 1905, plans for the new building were in the hands of the government, and the trustees had given their consent to sell the old site and building.
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However, although the Department of Public Instruction approved the plans, they refused to sanction the sale of the old site or permit the committee to take out a loan for the new building. By 1908, members were still waiting for an outcome and little had changed by 1911 when local media complained of the dreadful state of the Pambula School of Arts hall.
The new building was back on the agenda by 1913, and a building fund was established. Membership stood at 92 by May 1914 and in June that year, further plans and specifications were forwarded to the government. Approval was finally received in August, along with news that the Department of Public Instruction would subsidise the project on a pound for pound basis.
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Unfortunately, however, World War I broke out in August that same year, putting paid to fundraising activities locally for all but patriotic purposes. In an effort to support such activities, the School of Arts committee allowed use of the hall for these events at half the normal rate, but with the ongoing hostilities in Europe, the government withdrew all subsidies. The original building remained a source of discontent, with the Voice again commenting in 1916 "The School of Arts present building is a standing disgrace to the community and funds to assist the new building project are urgently needed."
By 1921, it was evident that a new approach was needed so rather than a “new” building, it was decided that they would remove the old structure to the new site, utilising the extra space to extend the hall. Local builder
Main hall looking towards stage area, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
Timber stairs and balustrade leading to stage, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
Job Koerber was employed to draw up plans and specifications which included enlargements encompassing a stage and supper room as well as raising the height of the walls by two feet. In April that year, the plans were accepted by the committee and in May approval was received from the authorities controlling public halls. In August, tenders for removal of the hall were finally called, and the contract was awarded to Job Koerber. The project was finally completed in 1922 at a cost of around £900, with an official opening and ball taking place in August that year, a report of the event noting that “...the new hall was overflowing filled with dancers, of whom over 100 couples were present.”
Pressed metal ceiling and cornice on the stage area (left) and pressed metal ceiling rose in the main hall, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
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Movie screenings commenced on a regular basis in about 1920 and in about 1929 a new picture screening box was installed in the brick addition at the front of the building.
After a disastrous June 1936 fire in Quondola Street in which three buildings were razed, the town’s World War I Red Cross Roll of Honour, rescued from the porch of the Pambula Post Office, was relocated to the School of Arts.
In 1944, the Pambula Diggers’ Ball took place in the hall, with the then premier of New South Wales William McKell attending as the guest of honour and officially opening the event. McKell had been born in Pambula decades earlier and later become Governor General of Australia.
Although its management and governance has been taken over by local government, the building, now known as the Pambula Town Hall, continues to be an important social and cultural element of the local
community through to the present day. Its use includes community meetings, markets, art classes, community fundraising events and private functions.
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© Angela George and Pat Raymond. All rights reserved.
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Stairs leading to the projection room, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
Main hall looking towards entry foyer, showing the projection room above, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
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Interior of the projection room, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
Interior of the projection room, 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
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Above and below: Rear exterior of the hall showing the skillion storage area, supper room and brick chimneys of the kitchen , 2006.
Image © Angela George. All rights reserved.
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References and bibliography:
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Baddeley, Ben and Alma, pers. comm.
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Bega Standard
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Brown, Stella, pers. comm.
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Candelo and Eden Union
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Candy, Philip ‘The light of heaven itself': The contribution of the institutes to Australia's cultural history, in Candy, Philip and Laurent, John (eds), Pioneering Culture: Mechanics' Institutes and Schools of Arts in Australia, Auslib Press, Adelaide 1994
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Dowling, Terry, pers. comm.
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Dunn’s Almanac
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Eden Magnet
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George, A. C. “Bubby”, comp. History of Pambula – old records early days, unpublished notebook, n.d.
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George, Allan, pers. comm.
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George, Angela, Pambula District’s Built Heritage – A History, unpublished study, 2006
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Kennedy, Arthur, pers. comm.
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Magnet-Voice
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Martin Family of Woodlands, Pambula, assorted records, private ownership
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Moore’s Almanac
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Pambula Voice
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Sand’s Sydney & NSW Directory
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Sydney Morning Herald
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Waterhouse, Richard, Private pleasures, public leisure: A history of Australian popular culture since 1788, Longman Australia, Melbourne 1995
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Went, Bill, pers. comm.
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Whelan, Betty, pers. comm.